


July, 2011

by JJK



Series: Life, Interrupted [17]
Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Schönberg/Boublil, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Fourth of July, M/M, enjolras' birthday, time travellers wife au, yacht shenanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-27 16:51:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19795012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JJK/pseuds/JJK
Summary: Enjolras is turning 36 and Grantaire has something special planned.





	July, 2011

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry it's been so long between updates! Hopefully this nice fluffy chapter will make up for it.

_July, 2011 (Grantaire is 39, Enjolras is 35)_

Summer blazed down on Chicago with an oppressive enthusiasm, bringing with it the promise of beer, barbeques and fourth of July fireworks. Normally Enjolras and Grantaire ignored Independence Day as neither of them had ever felt strongly inclined to celebrate it. As a child Enjolras had always been annoyed by the celebrations which overshadowed his birthday, and as an adult celebrating the nation’s freedom whilst its own imperialism ran rampant around the globe and multiple groups still remained oppressed had never sat right with him. Grantaire – not normally one to pass up a national day of drinking – figured that listening to loud bangs and watching flashing lights illuminate the sky was practically asking to Travel. Instead, they preferred to spend the holiday in seclusion, quietly enjoying Enjolras’ birthday in advance of whatever lavish celebrations Grantaire had planned for the sixth.

Enjolras still hadn’t forgiven Grantaire for the time that he’d turned their living room in a balloon-pit, and ever since Grantaire had nearly missed Enjolras’ thirtieth birthday, the parties had been growing more and more extravagant to compensate. There’d been fancy dress paintball, their own silent-disco-bar-crawl, not to mention the giant bounce house which had hardly fit in their back garden. For his 35th birthday Grantaire had set up an elaborate scavenger hunt which had Enjolras traipsing all over the city until he wound up on the steps of the library where they’d first met (in the Grantaire’s chronology, anyway), to find that Grantaire had hired out the whole place and they’d wound up singing karaoke through the library’s intercom system and stargazing on the roof until 3am.

When Grantaire told Enjolras they were celebrating early this year, Enjolras was more than a little apprehensive. As usual, Grantaire had done an impressive job of keeping his plans secret and it wasn’t until Enjolras was actually walking down the pier at the marina and he saw a giant birthday banner hanging over the side of one of the yachts that he realised what Grantaire had done.

“Happy Birthday,” Grantaire beamed, giving Enjolras’ hand a squeeze and pulling him along the gangplank and onboard the boat.

“Tell me you didn’t buy me a boat.” Enjolras was dazed, full of conflicting emotions of horror and delight.

“Don’t be absurd. It’s rented, just for the day.” Grantaire gave him a peck on the lips whilst Enjolras picked his metaphorical jaw up off the floor. “Go on up, everyone’s waiting,” Grantaire gave him a nudge towards the flight of stairs that led to the top deck, and Enjolras stumbled his way up. He’d barely risen through the hatch when he found himself being showered by party poppers and loud toots from party horns. Courfeyrac began to conduct a rousing chorus of happy birthday and Enjolras found himself eating cake for breakfast as the captain of the sailing ship pushed off from the dock and sent them sailing out onto Lake Michigan (hugging the coastline and never straying further from shore than Grantaire reckoned he could swim back if need be).

It was bliss. One of the most relaxing and enjoyable mornings Enjolras could remember since he’d moved away from the meadow. As he lay back on a cushioned bench feeling the boat sway beneath him and the endless blue sky pass over his head, Enjolras began to understand why people owned boats. He’d always chalked it up to nothing more than an extravagant show of wealth, but he had to admit there was something soothing about being gently rocked by the water whilst the breeze played softly through his hair. He had a book open on his chest, but he’d failed to read more than a couple of pages all morning; too absorbed with changing coastline and the hypnotic rise and fall of the water that stretched out beyond where the eye could see.

“We should buy a boat,” Grantaire sighed and flopped down beside Enjolras on a cushioned bench on the top deck.

“No we shouldn’t. It’s a lewd extravagance.” Enjolras returned, only half joking.

“Don’t worry, I donated double what I spent to your charity,”

“You could have donated triple, and we could have just had a barbeque in the garden,” Enjolras ribbed, lightly. He put down his book and turned his full attention to Grantaire. “How are we affording this?”

“I sold some shares.” Grantaire tipped his head back and closed his eyes against the bright sunlight. Droplets glistened on his bare chest and little rivulets of water ran down his legs from his soaked bottle green swimming trunks. It was a few months since Joly’s breakthrough with the potential cure had meant they could stop the gene therapy and other experimental treatments, and Grantaire was finally starting to gain some weight again. Though still lean and ropy, he could no longer be called skeletal. He was growing his hair out too and soft waves of dark curls shot through with streaks of grey fanned out on the cushion behind his head. Enjolras had always preferred Grantaire with slightly longer hair. Instinctively he reached out to tangle his hands in the wet curls and sweep them gently from Grantaire’s forehead.

“Thank you.” Enjolras said with an soft tenderness. “For organising all of this. I’m not sure I deserve it.”

“Sure you do,” Grantaire sat himself up and leaned across to give Enjolras a chaste kiss. “You deserve the world.” He stood up and shook his hair from his face with a flick of his head.

It was such a young thing to do that for a moment Grantaire lost half of his 39 years and Enjolras was overcome with a strange longing to have known Grantaire as a teenager. It seemed so unfair that Grantaire had known Enjolras practically his whole life and there was still so much Enjolras didn’t know about Grantaire. In the meadow he’d guarded facts about his life so secretively, barely letting anything slip no matter how much Enjolras might pry. Even now he was still so reluctant to talk about his past. Enjolras was closer to Grantaire than he’d ever been to anyone, but there was still so much of his life shrouded in mystery.

“You coming in for a swim?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

So far Enjolras was the only one to have stayed out of the water. He’d changed into a pair of bay-watch-red swimming trunks in deference to being on a boat, but he was still wearing a pale blue button down and so far he was still resolutely dry.

“Come on, it’s lovely,” Grantaire tried to tempt him, grabbing his hands and pulling him up from the bench. “Can’t have the birthday boy sitting up here all alone. There’s no way Bahorel or Courf are gonna let that fly; you might as well jump of your own volition before they decide to throw you overboard.”

“They wouldn’t,”

“Oh, they would. And should. You’ll regret it you don’t at least come for a dip.”

Enjolras allowed himself to be dragged over to the edge of the boat. Below, Courfeyrac, Bahorel and Feuilly were playing keep away with a green plastic soccer ball, Joly was sitting in an inflatable rubber ring whilst Bossuet and Musichetta spun him in slow circles, and Combeferre and Jehan were testing their ability to float, starfish like, on top of the water. He was almost tempted, but swimming had never been his forte.

“Isn’t it cold?”

“Nah, not when you get used to it. More…refreshing.” Grantaire grinned with a twinkle in his eye that told Enjolras he wasn’t quite telling the truth. But with the sun radiating down on the back of his neck and sparkling as it glanced off the water, Enjolras found the temptation mounting. If nothing else, jumping in of his own accord would save his dignity before the others took it upon themselves to throw him overboard. He didn’t doubt Grantaire’s conviction that they would. To be perfectly honest, he was surprised they hadn’t tried already.

“Oh, go on then,”

The smile that spread across Grantaire’s lips was worth a thousand swims in frigid waters.

Enjolras pulled his shirt off over his head and bundled it with the pile of discarded clothes on deck. He joined Grantaire in standing up on the side, and hesitated. The water looked an awfully long way down.

“We’re very high,”

“You’ll be fine. Cannon ball it if you’re nervous.” Grantaire gave him another grin, turned his back to the water, and arched off the side in a graceful back flip that ended with an ultra-smooth splash into the water. He made it look effortlessly easy. A moment later he broke the water with another sweeping flick of his hair. “C’mon in, the water’s lovely!” he shouted up.

That caught everyone’s attention. They all looked up at him and Enjolras knew he couldn’t back down now. He rolled his shoulders and took a deep breath before he jumped, tucking his knees to his chest and hitting the water with a tremendous splash. The cold hit him with a force that knocked all of the breath from his lungs. Enjolras thought his heart might physically stop beating from the sudden shock, but as he swam to the surface, gasping for breath, and found himself still very much alive.

“It’s fucking freezing!” he spluttered, trying to tread water with his legs alone as he brushed his hair from his eyes.

“Yeah, it is to start with,” Grantaire swam lazily towards him. “But you wouldn’t have come if I’d been honest.”

“You’re insufferable!”

“I love you too.” Grantaire just beamed and reached up to kiss him. It was messy, what with both of them treading water to stay afloat, their teeth clashed a little and they both tasted of lake water, but it still sent butterflies fluttering Enjolras’ stomach, even after all these years. He brought his hands up to cup Grantaire jaw, steadying themselves and deepening the kiss, letting Grantaire work hard to stop them from drowning.

“Whit-whoo!” Courfeyrac whistled whilst Bahorel groaned, “Get a room!”

They broke away, laughing, and Grantaire wasted no time in splashing a wave of water in Courfeyrac’s face. The game of keep away turned into a wild and competitive version of keepy-uppy, and they all wasted a long afternoon in the water.

As the sun faded, the boat drew close to Navy Pier, anchoring themselves in a great spot to watch the fireworks. They grilled fish and steaks on the on-deck barbeque and kicked back in lounge chairs with beer and cocktails flowing.

The sun set and suddenly fireworks lit up the Chicago skyline with a dazzling array of colours; the lights popped and sparkled, set to rousing music and were reflected back in the water making it look like they were floating inside a nebula. Enjolras’ breath caught in his throat.

“This is _wonderful_.” He turned to gaze at Grantaire and reached to grasp his hand. Grantaire gave his hand and tender squeeze and smiled back at Enjolras. There was a pained look in his eyes and his brow furrowed like he was fighting off the start of a headache; a tell-tale sign that he was about to Travel. “Go,” Enjolras whispered, leaning forwards to kiss him. “I’ll be here when you get back.”

Grantaire opened his mouth to reply, but he was gone before he could say award; disappearing right from Enjolras’ grip, until he found himself holding an empty grey NASA hoodie, and his swimming trunks were left in a sorry looking pile on his chair.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are always appreciated. Come say hi on [Tumblr!](https://trenchcoatsandtimetravel.tumblr.com)


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